Controlling pest populations is essential to human health, modern agriculture, food storage, and hygiene. There are more than ten thousand species of pests that cause losses in agriculture and the world-wide agricultural losses amount to billions of U.S. dollars each year. Accordingly, there exists a continuous need for new pesticides and for methods of producing and using such pesticides.
The Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC) has classified insecticides into categories based on the best available evidence of the mode of action of such insecticides. Insecticides in the IRAC Mode of Action Group 3A are sodium channel modulators that are pyrethroid-based or pyrethrin-based compounds. The insecticides in this class are believed to keep sodium channels open, causing hyperexcitation and, in some cases, nerve block in the affected insects. Sodium channels are involved in the propagation of action potentials along nerve axons. Examples of insecticides in the IRAC Mode of Action Group 3A class are lambda-cyhalothrin, acrinathrin, allethrin, d-cis-trans allethrin, d-trans allethrin, bifenthrin, bioallethrin, bioallethrin, S-cyclopentenyl isomer, bioresmethrin, cycloprothrin, cyfluthrin, beta-cyfluthrin, cyhalothrin, gamma-cyhalothrin, cypermethrin, alpha-cypermethrin, beta-cypermethrin, theta-cypermethrin, zeta-cypermethrin, cyphenothrin [(1R)-trans-isomers], deltamethrin, empenthrin [(EZ)-(1R)-isomers], esfenvalerate, etofenprox, fenpropathrin, fenvalerate, flucythrinate, flumethrin, tau-fluvalinate, halfenprox, imiprothrin, kadethrin, permethrin, phenothrin [(1R)-trans-isomer], prallethrin, pyrethrins (pyrethrum), resmethrin, silafluofen, tefluthrin, tetramethrin, tetramethrin [(1R)-isomers], tralomethrin, and transfluthrin.
Lambda-cyhalothrin, 3-(2-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoro-1-propenyl)-2,2-dimethyl-cyano-(3-phenoxyphenyl)methyl cyclopropanecarboxylate, belongs to a group of chemicals called synthetic pyrethroids. Synthetic pyrethroids are manmade insecticides that mimic the structure and insecticidal properties of the naturally-occurring insecticide pyrethrum, which comes from the crushed petals of the Chrysanthemum flower.
Although the rotational application of pesticides having different modes of action may be adopted for good pest management practice, this approach does not necessarily give satisfactory pest control. Furthermore, even though combinations of pesticides have been studied, a high synergistic action has not always been found.